The Relationship between EFL Learners’ Motivation and Learning Achievement across Grades开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

1.introduction1.1 research backgroundindividual differences (ids) have been studied for quite a long time, even pre-dating the second language acquisition (sla) research. many recent studies have sought to uncover the underlying relationships between ids and second language (l2) achievements. for example, many researchers have shown great interest in exploring why some learners are more successful than others. the core factors which were commonly included by many researchers in their research are language aptitude, motivation, personality, intelligence, learning strategies and age. the relevant factors related with learners are language aptitude, age, gender, learning motivation, anxiety, self-esteem, individual character, learning preference, learning strategies, intelligence and so on. among these factors, most of them cannot be changed or it is hard to change them, which are called uncontrollable factors (wen, 1993). however, there are still some controllable factors. they can be modified and then do good for learners language learning such as learning motivation, learning strategies, learning anxiety (wen, 1993). learning motivation as the drive for language learners to learn english has been a crucial issue in the recent ten years research in china. as early as 1991, domestic scholar wang chuming (1991) pointed out needs is the fundamental source for english learners to learn. here needs have the same meaning with learning motivation. since then, more and more researchers have focused their attention on english learning motivation. 1.2need for the studydifferent from learning native language, foreign language learning has its own characteristics and regularity. relying solely on the teacher's external knowledge instilling, learners cannot achieve the ideal learning outcomes. the study on leaning motivation and autonomous learning ability of language learners shows whether students are interested in foreign language learning, and whether students are responsible for their foreign language learning, is the key to learning foreign languages.since the 1970s, scholars at home and abroad have shifted the research focus or foreign language learning from how to teach to how to learn. in many learner factors, learning motivation, as a controllable factor, is considered as one of the most important factors. generally speaking, learning motivation is the driving force, that is, why to learn. learning motivation has played a crucial role in foreign language learning. based on the theory and research of learning motivation related to foreign language learning, the present study discusses the correlation between the factor as well as the impact on foreign language learning achievement.this research is of vital importance in the second language pedagogy. specifically, this study will make sense for english teaching. motivation is fundamental to a language learning process (kao (this state) leads to a conscious action decision; and leads to a period of mental or physical sustained efforts; so as to achieve one or more goals previously set. all in all, foreign language learning motivation refers to the desire of learning a foreign language and the driving force of learners, it is the most initiative in many individual factors for language learning, and is also one of the most important factors to successful language learning.2.2 definition of learning achievementthe definition of achievement can be found in dictionary of education (good, 1959), and it refers to accomplishing or mastering performance in some given skills or knowledge. oxford advanced learner's dictionary of current english (hornby, 2000) defines achievement as a thing that somebody has succeeded in doing, and during that process, their own effort and skill play a very important role. good (1959) also defines academic achievement as the acquired knowledge or skills which are developed in school subjects, and they are usually determined by mark and test score that are assigned by teachers. language achievement here refers to english achievement in this paper, and according to what good's defines, english achievement can be defined as the knowledge attained or skills developed in english, usually determined by test score or by mark assigned by teachers or both. in some researches, language achievement is named as language performance or academic performance. it means how students perform in terms of grades.2.3 classification of motivationsince the 1950s, foreign scholars have combined learning motivation with second language achievements to study, and have classified second language learning motivation from different angles. the most representative classifications are two types: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation; intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.2.3.1 integrative and instrumental motivationfor some time, in the field of foreign language learning motivation research, gardner's social-educational model has been dominant and has a huge impact on motivation research. this model divides motivation into two types: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation.integrative motivation refers to that the individual learner has strong learning desire as a result of that he wants to have better communication with the language community which he thinks is valuable. learners wish to integrate themselves within the culture of the second language group, to identify themselves with and become a part of that society (brown, 2002). learner's survival and development needs integrative motivation. foreign language learners holding this kind of motivation, in order to survive and develop in the target language culture, in order to be able to communicate with the target language community members freely and integrate into its culture, have a real interest in the culture and the lifestyle of the target language community.instrumental motivation refers to that learners learn completely in order to achieve some practical purpose, and have no special purpose to communicate with the target language community. "acquire a language as means for attaining instrumental goals: furthering a career, reading technical material, translation, and so forth." (brown, 2002) work and education development needs instrumental motivation. it is the desire to master a foreign language for foreign language learners in order to get jobs, improve personal accomplishment or improve their social status.2.3.2 intrinsic and extrinsic motivationdeci and ryan's (1985) self-determination theory focuses on two motivation orientations: the first is the intrinsic interest in learning activities; the second is the reward outside learning activities. they divide learning motivation into three categories, namely, no motivation, extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. they believe that these three kinds of motivation are in the same continuum, and the degree of self-determination is from low to high. no motivation has the lowest degree of self-determination on this continuum.(hua weifen, 2009) intrinsic motivation refers to that learners have the desire to learn a foreign language because of their curiosity and interest. individuals are interested in learning activities and can get satisfaction in the activity. intrinsic motivation can be subdivided into three types: knowledge of intrinsic motivation, achievement of intrinsic motivation and stimulation of intrinsic motivation.extrinsic motivation refers to that the foreign language learners learn a foreign language in order to win praise or exempt from punishment. it can get a sense of achievement, reward or praise, turning into intrinsic motivation. learner's behavior is based on certain instrumental purpose. extrinsic motivation can be subdivided into three kinds: external adjustment; projected adjustment and identity adjustment.2.4 review of previous empirical studymany researchers at home and abroad have studied the relationship between learning motivation and learning achievement. guided by self-determination theory, wang (2008) conduct a study to construct a scale of english learning motivation in a particular chinese context, and explore the relationship between intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and english achievement. results indicate that autonomous extrinsic motivation has positive correlation with intrinsic motivation and achievement, while controlled extrinsic motivation bas negative correlation with them.li while high achievers have greater integrative motivation than lower ones; interest plays an extremely important role in study and high achievers have a strong sense of achievement.lasagabaster (2011) investigates on the relationship between motivation and the language proficiency attained through two different approaches: content and language integrated learning (cll) and english as a foreign language (efl), among 191 secodary school students with english as the third language. in this study, to measure motivation and foreign language competence, motivation questionnaire is involved and english tests corresponding to grammar, listening, speaking and writing is used. by analyzing factors and correlations, the result reveals that the cll approach is strongly related to motivation.references brown, h. d. (2002). principles of language learning and teaching. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press.deci, e. l. ryan, r. m. (1985). intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. now york: plenum press.gardner, r. c. (1985). social psychology and second language learning: the role of attitudes and motivation. london: edward arnold publishers.good, c. v. (1959). dictionary of education. new york: mcgraw hill book company inc.homby, a. s. (2000). oxford advanced learner's dictionary of current english. oxford: oup.kao, t., oxford, r. (2014). learning language through music: a strategy for building inspiration and motivation. system, 43, 114-120.keller, j. m. (1983). motivational design of instruction. in c. m. reigeluth (ed.), instructional design theories and models (pp. 386-433). hillsdale, new jersey: erlbaum.lasagabaster, d. (2011). english achievement and student motivation in clil and efl settings. innovation in language learning and teaching. 5(1):3-18.li, p. p., pan, g. r. (2009). the relationship between motivation and achievement: survey of the study motivation of english majors in qingdao agricultural university. english language teaching. 2(1): 123-128.wang, f. x. (2008). motivation and english achievement: an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of a new measure for chinese students of english learning. north american journal of psychology. 10(3): 633-646.wen, q. f. (1993). advanced level english language learning in china: the relationship of modifiable learner variables to learning outcomes (doctoral dissertation). hong kong university, hong kong.williams, m. burden, r. l. (1997). psychology for language teachers: a social constructivist approach. cambridge: cambridge university press.华维芬（2009），试论外语学习动机与学习者自主，《外语研究》（1）：57-62。

王初明（1990），《应用心理语言学》。

长沙：湖南教育出版社。

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

Learning achievement has always been the focus of people's attention and it is an important indicator to measure the effectiveness of learners. This research attempts to explore the relationship between EFL Learners of learning motivation and learning achievement. It also explores the differences in learning motivation between learners of different grades.The study is with a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. This research will investigate some English majors across grades in a university in Nanjing. Questionnaires will be used in this study to measure learning motivation. Questionnaire used in this study is adapted from Ardashevas (2012) English language learner motivation scale. EFL learners proficiency will be obtained by their final grade of advanced English course. English learning motivation, English learning achievement and their relationships over grades will be explored and discussed. SPSS will be used to analyze the data.